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[DunDunDunpachi]

So I've never been one to buy yearly Madden or buy every new Forza or to wait in anticipation for the next iteration of The Show. However, there are a lot of great sports and racing games in my collection that I keep returning to. I'm sure I'm not the only one who dabbles in these genres.

What sports and/or racing gems need to shine for other gamers to see? Do you have a favorite hockey game that stands the test of time, or a particular racer from the 90s that you simply can't put down? Please post. A few of my contributions are below:

Beach Spikers (Naomi 2, Gamecube)

I don't watch volleyball, but without knowing the rules or strategy, this game captured my attention. Multiplayer is where it shines (it can be played 1v1 or 2vCPU). Moves are charged by holding down the button, a simple but effective way of keeping the flow moving back and forth. Sports games tend to get too bogged down in stats, accurate team compositions, and gimmicks, but Beach Spikers keeps it arcade-simple.

Neo Drift Out: New Technology (MVS, Neo Geo CD)

Modern 3D rally racers tend to focus on car handling and realistically-rough terrain, but this is all about taking hairpin turns at high speeds. The controls are simple and the races are short. No need to fiddle with the car either, just jump in and play.

Downhill Domination (Playstation 2)

Fans of snowboarding games, Road Rash, and Midway's San Francisco Rush would probably find a lot to like here. It's an over-the-top bike racing game that lets you clobber opponents, launch yourself off steep drops, and halve the gravity, and turn combat off, and give infinite stamina. It doesn't have a huge list of tricks, but those are included too. Like Beach Strikers, this one is best enjoyed with a friend on the couch.

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Alright, your turn.

 

[GymWolf]

That first pic tells me that you could greatly appreciate the dead or alive beachvolley spinoff...

Spoiler

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

If it doesn't have SEGA's masterful sports title touch, not interested weeb.

 

[Kuranghi]

Inspired by a certain other thread were we DunDunDunpachi ?

Dun!

DunDun!

DunDunBum!

I always loved SWOS on my Amiga 500 back in the day and I don't have any interest in modern sports games:

Sensible World of Soccer 96/97

Sensible World of Soccer 96-97 edition is the best and last installment of the most popul

www.gog.com

 

[Kuranghi]

That first pic tells me that you could greatly appreciate the dead or alive beachvolley spinoff...

Spoiler

Do you think her bush is straightened and cut in the style of her hair as well? That would be rad.

 

[M1chl]

Forza Horizon 3, 4 beyond that I don't know. Because at least racing games, kind of died in variety since last gen.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Tennis 2k1/2 is probably my favorite sports game. Very very fun and easy to play with a lot of technique to learn too. But other than having a Dreamcast/PS2 you'd have to resort to emulation and some people have an aversion to that.

Forza Horizon with the Hot Wheels DLC is super fun and very casual friendly. Going over a loop is pretty cool and really looks like a real Hot Wheels island.

 

[GymWolf]

Do you think her bush is straightened and cut in the style of her hair as well? That would be rad.

Well i was not ready for a similar question...

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Forza gets so much praise, it's truly a great series. I think EA dropped the ball hard on their racing franchises and Turn 10 picked up the slack. i'll have to keep that Hot Wheels DLC in mind, Krappadizzle

Here are two more picks. I'm surprised people aren't jumping in with more sport recommendations. It's a monstrous genre, one of the oldest.

Wii Sports and Sports Resort still hold up. Both get regular play on the Wii hooked up to the CRT downstairs. If you see a theme of "simple and engaging" in my picks, you're on the nose. Wii Sports bowling and golf are still both fun time-wasters. Frisbee is a chill "toy" that responds to your wrist snap and angle pretty realistically. Sword fighting and archery are solid. Some of the sports aren't as good (basketball and biking, imo) but overall these are great games in small doses.

RingFit Adventure is another excellent sports game. Put down your soy and get this game. It's amazing. The RPG elements blossom over time, and the difficulty can be tuned for fatasses or fit people alike. However, even if you strip away the utility as a fitness tool, this is a really fun arcade-like game that grows in complexity. Nintendo absolutely nailed the Ringcon idea. I hope it gets at least one sequel.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Forza gets so much praise, it's truly a great series. I think EA dropped the ball hard on their racing franchises and Turn 10 picked up the slack. i'll have to keep that Hot Wheels DLC in mind, Krappadizzle

Here are two more picks. I'm surprised people aren't jumping in with more sport recommendations. It's a monstrous genre, one of the oldest.

I'll add two more:

Wii Sports and Sports Resort still hold up. Both get regular play on the Wii hooked up to the CRT downstairs. If you see a theme of "simple and engaging" in my picks, you're on the nose. Wii Sports bowling and golf are still both fun time-wasters.

Absolutely spot on. Wii Sports bowling is so damn fun. Thinking back on it, when the Wii had come out and I finally got one after looking forever, my buddies and I would spend hours getting drunk playing Bowling. Such a good time, thought I was so slick putting backspin on the ball. Such good memories. Even talking about it is making me want to dig out my modded Wii U and give it another spin.

 

[Albion]

Micro Machines V3 back on the playstation.

Fun little matchbox arcade competitive racer. One of my best memories with my friens is this game. Each stage was a different enviroment like the kitchen, class room, snooker table etc. You had to avoid the environmental items, and try and push your friends into them or off the sides, though some of them you have to interact with to get to the next part of the stage, and you could get weapons like hammers or mines. it got super intense.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I used to play a lot of racing games in the past, but i slowly stopped as the genre lost its place.

I think the best game i could recommend for non-fans is Driver San Francisco.
The driving feels good, its fun to play, the soundtrack is amazing, and above all there's a story that can be considered good, by videogames standards at least, to keep you hooked rather than just throwing you in a bunch of races without much context.





That last point is probably what i think makes people lose interest in the genre. Theres either little to no context for these games, or the context presented is absolutely garbage, neither of which happens in DSF

Too bad the game is delisted, so you'll most likely need to sail the 7 seas to play it

 

[SirKicksalot]

I don't know anything about cars or football but I like Forza Horizon and FIFA is fun with friends. FIFA is sort of like pinball I guess.
I also tolerate Dirt 2 and old Need for Speed games, up to and including Carbon.
Burnout Paradise is fun but it has long unskippable cutscenes.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Micro Machines V3 back on the playstation.

Fun little matchbox arcade competitive racer. One of my best memories with my friens is this game. Each stage was a different enviroment like the kitchen, class room, snooker table etc. You had to avoid the environmental items, and try and push your friends into them or off the sides, though some of them you have to interact with to get to the next part of the stage, and you could get weapons like hammers or mines. it got super intense.

Thank you for reminding me about this. I had such fond memories of multiple MicroMachine games back in the day. With todays tech we could probably get some stunning looking MM like game.

 

[Sethbacca]

Rocket League all the way.

 

[johntown]

RC Pro Am was one of my favorites back in the day!

 

[Codes 208]

 

[TintoConCasera]

I've always enjoyed playing Mario Strikers on the Gamecube with some friends, really fun multiplayer.

 

[nowhat]

I'm not sure if this really qualifies, but... have you tried Pyre? (made by Supergiant Games, also known for Bastion/Transistor/Hades)

It's sort of like basketball. A tiny bit at least. But there are also different characters with vastly different playstyles/abilities. A surprisingly deep story (when playing single-player) - and if you lose a game (again in single-player) it doesn't stop your progression, but instead changes the outcome of the story. And since we're talking about Supergiant, a phenomenal soundtrack too. No online multiplayer, but couch-vs is always more fun.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Split second velocity from ps3, Xbox 360 and Pc.

One of the Best racing games that i play in my life and saddly one of the most underrated game.

 

[Can't decide]

I'd say Wreckfest is a nice pick up and play racing game that most would enjoy.

 

[Nozz-A-La]

I absolutely love Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed. Being able to drive as a car, boat, and plane was ridiculously fun, and the courses were fantastic too.

 

[Pejo]

Sonic All Stars Racing: Transformed is the best arcade racer of all time, really accessible and very deep for an arcade racer.


Motorstorm: Apocolypse is another amazing fun racing game. One of the few really cool experiences I had with my Playstation 3DTV back when I used it.


Rumble Roses XX was a WWE/NWA waifu rip-off wrestling game, that was fun in its own right.


Street Hockey '95 was a really fun (but pretty janky) 2D SNES hockey game. I had a ton of fun with it with friends as a kid.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'd say Wreckfest is a nice pick up and play racing game that most would enjoy.

I really like this game, but i wouldn't call it pick up and play honestly. From the physics to the difficulty, its not exactly a casual experience

 

[synchronicity]

Super Mega Baseball is great, both in terms of mechanics and authenticity (to the fundamentals of the sport - not in terms of leagues.) with plenty of challenge if you want to dive in deep. (I can only speak for the original. I haven't played 2 & 3 yet.) And it's just great fun with some light-hearted presentation.

Of course Hot Shots series is great, but Hot Shots Tennis is often overlooked, and I really enjoyed that one.

 

[hariseldon]

I'd say Wreckfest is a nice pick up and play racing game that most would enjoy.

Wreckfest is brilliant - what’s interesting is that the handling is actually pretty good with a wheel and pedals, quite sim, but the game is pure arcade fun.

Agree with those suggesting Sonic Allstars Transformed, it’s an absolute masterpiece - the only game that gets near Mario Kart 8.

 

[Tesseract]

 

[Dibils2k]

Forza Horizon 4, nuff said

 

[Birdo]

Smash Court Tennis on PS1 by Namco is awesome.

 

[Bragr]

Burnout 3 was god-tier back on PS2, not sure how it holds up. Fight Night Champions is the best realistic fighting game ever made with a great campaign, and the old Gran Turismo games, 3 and 4, are still for some reason the only car games that try to put together an interesting and addicting campaign.

The F1 games from Codemaster might be the top racing games at the moment after Forza, they are excellent and a bit different than the usual racer.

If you want a cool older more rare sports game, try to find Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

 

[JimiNutz]

Smash Court Tennis on PS1 by Namco is awesome.

I came in here to mention Virtua Tennis but this was fucking awesome as well.

Considering I have no real interest in tennis it's hard to deny that the sport can make for some great videogames.

If you want something more modern then Mario Tennis Aces is also pretty fun.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Burnout 3 was god-tier back on PS2, not sure how it holds up. Fight Night Champions is the best realistic fighting game ever made with a great campaign, and the old Gran Turismo games, 3 and 4, are still for some reason the only car games that try to put together an interesting and addicting campaign.

The F1 games from Codemaster might be the top racing games at the moment after Forza, they are excellent and a bit different than the usual racer.

If you want a cool older more rare sports game, try to find Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

Fight Night Champions was a fantastic game. I can't believe looking back we didn't get an entry for the PS4/XbX generation. At least 1 entry would have looked stunning. Those games graphics and controls were so good. Very fun game to have some drinks with and play a buddy all night.

I had Burnout 3 on Xbox, but you are right, the racing was so exciting and fast. Felt like you were just always on the cusp of crashing but barely hanging onto control.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I'm neither a fan of the UFC nor the games, but Ultimate Fighting Championship is somehow one of my favorite hidden-gem fighting games.

It was made by Tekken vets. The characters specialize in striking, ground submissions, grappling, or some combination. The ground fighting feels legit because you can quickly force a tapout, presenting a constant threat. Very cool fighting game. I don't know the fighters but apparently a lot of the well-known ones from the 00s are included.

Rocket League all the way.

Excellent pick! Rockket League is a genuine phenomenon now.

I'd say Wreckfest is a nice pick up and play racing game that most would enjoy.

GAF turned me on to this one. I second it. Feels like a successor to Demolition Racer: No Exit.

 

[Bragr]

Fight Night Champions was a fantastic game. I can't believe looking back we didn't get an entry for the PS4/XbX generation. At least 1 entry would have looked stunning. Those games graphics and controls were so good. Very fun game to have some drinks with and play a buddy all night.

I had Burnout 3 on Xbox, but you are right, the racing was so exciting and fast. Felt like you were just always on the cusp of crashing but barely hanging onto control.

Fight Night had the best character models across all games, and frankly, they still look insanely good by today's standard. They haven't made one this generation because the team that developed them are making the UFC games. The rise of MMA catapulted the sales of the UFC games and Fight Night was forgotten. I pray they are working on a new one and there are some signs that they are. Luckily Fight Night champions is included in the EA Play service, so it's easy to get a hold of.

These character models are simply amazing, with muscle twitching and realistic sweat and blood. Look at the muscle definition on Tyson's shoulder.

 

[Greeno]

Man.... I'd really like if Rockstar developed a new Midnight Club. It is definitely that "non-fans of genre play it" type of game.

 

[Vawn]

Golf Story

 

[Tesseract]

f-zero gx is the best of the best

sports games are another matter, most of my favorites are older

here's everything that comes to mind, rented one or another of these almost every weekend -->

 

[SirTerry-T]

The only sports title the discerning gamer will ever need!

 

[Krappadizzle]

Fight Night had the best character models across all games, and frankly, they still look insanely good by today's standard. They haven't made one this generation because the team that developed them are making the UFC games. The rise of MMA catapulted the sales of the UFC games and Fight Night was forgotten. I pray they are working on a new one and there are some signs that they are. Luckily Fight Night champions is included in the EA Play service, so it's easy to get a hold of.

These character models are simply amazing, with muscle twitching and realistic sweat and blood. Look at the muscle definition on Tyson's shoulder.

Fight Night Champions runs on the One X too like a...well champ. STill a very fun game and you are abso-fuckin'-lutely right that the game still looks good. When the power of the 360 and PS3 could focus on just 2 people, it gave a lot of power to rendering just those two people. The slow-motion is always so satisfying and I really like the way you can control your boxer with the thumbsticks and triggers.

 

[Tschumi]

SSX3: The Thread

(Get a gamepad and play it through Dolphin, best version and you can tidy up the graphics)

 

[teezzy]

Not only the best sports game ever, NHL HItz 2003 is legiterally a top 5 game of all time! Right up there with Tekken 7, Chrono Trigger, Star Wars KotOR, and Simpson's Road Rage! Even the GBA version was fuggin' sicc nasty af!



Super arcadey and lots of fighting. 3 on 3 hockey. The 5 on 5 oddly hurt they added in NHL Hitz Pro kinda hurt the series, I feel. NHL Hitz Pro also had less headbangin' nu-metal and wacky customization options!

Seriously though dude? Be a real G and just buy the latest NHL 21, Madden 21, and Forza Horizon 4. You won't regret it, theyre cool games, especially for someone who hasn't played every past iteration.

You may not understand sports, BUT you do understand video games, and you can learn as you play. They have sweet tutorials.
I'm firmly of the mindset that it's always best to learn by going balls deep and growing into something rather than buying something you'll soon grow out of. Get in where you fit in. Smash that tuna.

 

[Edgelord79]

My son and I are having a lot of fun with Hotshot Racing.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Golf story

 

[Oida di Figgiano]

If you want to fix your inner GM/Manager/Owner/Coach of a sportsteam i would recommend the following:

FM20 or for that matter the current FM iteration, best soccer manager/coach game out there, apart from Ootp baseball i dont know of any comparable simulation game. There seems to be a basketball equivalent but never tried it.
When you look for a sports game that lets you play the games and something with a decent GM mode then go either for NBA2k or NHL as they give you a much better and deeper experience than fifa or madden. If you want a football game with a decent GM mode your best shot will be ncaa football 13 or 14 for 7th gen machines, the latter tends to be pricey. But it weren´t for the slow menus i like the mode in 13 a bit more, it has a bit more depth/micromanaging in terms of recruiting.

 

[Yumi]

The Nintendo 64 was the last console I played a lot of sports games on.

San Francisco Rush
Wave Race
NFL Blitz
Hydro Thunder
Beetle Adventure Racing
1080 Snowboarding
Wayne Gretzkys 3D Hockey

Beetle Adventure Racing I remember being one of my favorite games. Dont know how it holds up.

 

[Tschumi]

Not only the best sports game ever, NHL HItz 2003 is legiterally a top 5 game of all time! Right up there with Tekken 7, Chrono Trigger, Star Wars KotOR, and Simpson's Road Rage! Even the GBA version was fuggin' sicc nasty af!



Super arcadey and lots of fighting. 3 on 3 hockey. The 5 on 5 oddly hurt they added in NHL Hitz Pro kinda hurt the series, I feel. NHL Hitz Pro also had less headbangin' nu-metal and wacky customization options!

Seriously though dude? Be a real G and just buy the latest NHL 21, Madden 21, and Forza Horizon 4. You won't regret it, theyre cool games, especially for someone who hasn't played every past iteration.

You may not understand sports, BUT you do understand video games, and you can learn as you play. They have sweet tutorials.
I'm firmly of the mindset that it's always best to learn by going balls deep and growing into something rather than buying something you'll soon grow out of. Get in where you fit in. Smash that tuna.

Nhl will always have a big pedestal in my memory because it was the first franchise i saw which had animated jerseys. I think it might have been nhl 2001? Didn't look super but i was dumbfounded barely any of the other sport series figured it out for years and years~ had FIFA figured it out yet? I've no idea haven't played a fifa game in a whiiile

Edit:



Yeah think it was this one.. not hitz but involved fighting~~

 

[TLZ]

If you want a fun arcade soccer game, try Captain Tsubasa Rise of New Champions. You can play it on the Switch, PS4 or PC.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Hard to keep track as there seems to be a million of these across platforms..... I'm going to assume the latest version is the best?

But the Trials motorcycle game is sweet. I only played the original one on 360, but there's been many more since.

Google Search

Here's the latest one called Trials Rising.

 

[TLZ]

DunDunDunpachi
Sorry I forgot to add more info, like it has local multiplayer if you want to play with your kids (I do), and online of course.

It's an anime soccer game and an actual anime btw.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Do you think her bush is straightened and cut in the style of her hair as well? That would be rad.

If so, then it would look like a Hitler mustache.